Six days into the Route du Rhum, Destination Guadeloupe 2026, Tom Laperche has just a few hundred miles left to run to Pointe-à-Pitre.
But the finish will not come easily. A weak and irregular southerly wind is forecast over the final stretch, the kind of setup that tends to spark thunderstorms rather than deliver steady breeze.
Further east, the Class40 fleet is grappling with starkly different conditions as it works around a depression near the Azores, with another disturbed weather system due to arrive early next week.
For Laperche and the leading Ultims, the key question is how these unstable winds might complicate both the approach to Guadeloupe and the rounding of the island itself.
The Class40 skippers, meanwhile, face a tougher sequence: a run of heavy weather, a patch of light wind to cross, and a fresh system building behind them, all while trying to keep their boats moving without breaking them.
Cyril Wuest, meteorologist at METEO CONSULT, the official weather partner of the Route du Rhum, Destination Guadeloupe 2026, breaks down the sailing conditions and the strategic choices facing skippers this weekend and into Monday.
